What Camp Ruth is (A Borrowed Post)

 Okay I'm stealing this Post from from Mindee West, except I'm Changing some of the writing. I have learned to do this from Jessica, She steals mine all the time. So If I'm getting Graded I get the "F" not Mindee this is her writing with mostly my pictures. I've deleted some of her writing, and added mine in RED.

Our Stake holds a special camp, Camp Ruth, for girls ages 16-18.  It's a spiritual camp to help

 them feel the spirit and desire to stay on the path of righteousness regardless of trials and temptations.

Our theme this year was Helaman 5:12 - we substituted "daughters" for "sons"

We stayed in the Leavitt's Cabin which is huge and beautiful!  They are so kind to let 85 of us stay there.

This is everyone that went to Camp Ruth except our 2 cooks and the Priesthood, We had a lot of Priesthood around. You can't have camp without the Priesthood.

Here are all the leaders who came to help.  These women work tirelessly for the youth of our valley.

You are amazing!  And it was fun staying up all hours of the night with you.

These cute lanyards (is that the right term?) which we called the BIG "R"

were the reward for completing the requirements of camp. Keri made them all!

They are so adorable and I have my keys on it now so I will always remember camp.

I have my keys on also, It's kinda cute when Hunter and Duane want to drive my car and take my keys, They hand it back to me real fast as if they don't want to be seen with them. It's kinda funny.

We had to Memorize: Helaman 5:12, Article of Faith 13, and all 3 verses of As Sisters in Zion

Read: The Introduction to the Book of Mormon, Testimony of Joseph Smith, testimony of the 

3 Witnesses, testimony of the 8 witnesses, the Book of Ruth, the Relief Society Theme, 

The Family a Proclamation to the World, and The Living Christ.

The memorizing thing was hard for me, but it was nice to see that others struggled with it also. Not that I wish that on anyone, it just made me feel a little normal.

We had wonderful GAP session throughout the 4 days (stands for Girls Along the Path).

We are lucky to have such a beautiful place to stay, this is only a small portion of the huge living room.

We had wonderful speakers present on topics such as scripture study, prayer, our identity as

daughters of God, music, missionaries, dating, marriage & eternity, the priesthood, music,

following the spirit, building our foundation on Christ, and choice & accountability.

This is Mindee if some of your don't know her, She's truly amazing and great with the girls.

I really enjoyed all the speakers.  I learned a lot and was spiritually fed.

Between the spiritual feast we had fun too.  We played lots of games to apply the things we learned.

There were lots of laughs along with a few tears during the week.

The highlight of Camp Ruth is always the Friday night Iron Rod experience and testimony meeting.

It was supposed to rain and we prayed for good weather, our prayers were answered.

We did the rod different this year, it was a wonderful experience for those participating and those helping.

I have been to Camp Ruth quite a few times, I have seen the Rod done 3 different ways now, It amazes me that even though they have changed it up over the years, the effect is still the same.  couldn't tell which way I like it best.

It's interesting to watch and see how the Young Women Leaders and Bishopric want to help each girl out and show her the way. Priesthood leaders running around breaking off branches around the trees for the girls won't smash into them with their face. Standing over fallen trees, and stumps so they won't trip and fall.  Just like in our everyday lives, We have church members home teachers, visiting teachers, Bishopric, Family etc.. you name it they want to help and keep us on a safe path. The only thing is just like at Camp Ruth you can't take their hand and lead them around everything or do it for them. We all have our Free agency to choose, We have to sometimes loose our way or fall a little, so that we can know right from wrong, The important thing is that these same people are there to help us dust our selves off and start again to grab a hold of the rod a little tighter.

It's hard to watch girls struggle and have to just stand back and watch.  

But just as in life, they have to make their own choices.

Parents and leaders met the girls at the end of the rod.

And enjoyed glorious reunions.  I sat at the end for most of the time and watched, and cried.

This was my third year as a leader at Camp Ruth and I hope I'm still in the Stake next time.

I love working with these amazing women and being with the girls.

These weeks change my life!

Our Stake Young Women Leaders. Great Job on another job of Camp Ruth!!

And this was our Cooks not such a great picture but it was hard to get these to together, They were always busy trying to feed us all, they were on their feet all day long, and the food was the best. They absolutely  had the hardest job there.

I was able to come to camp and do the sound system make handouts and take pictures whatever was asked of me I tried to do. I was able to  put a slide show at the end of camp use some of the pictures I took, I have had people ask me to post the slide show, but I'm just not sure that I would be the same on here as it was at Camp. It was built upon the spirit from the week of camp.  So I've been undecided on posting it, mostly leaning towards not. Though I put many hours into it, and enjoyed working on it. I just don't think it would be the same for anyone else that wasn't there.